I have several interesting rumors that I feel relatively confident about but either don't have visual evidence or a second confirmation, so I'm going to keep them to G+.

I'll post roughly a rumor a day until I run out.

Disclaimer: As with all rumors, nothing is 100% until it's officially announced. None of this may end up being true, though I have a good level of confidence in the sources.

Rumor #3. This is something a lot of people have been waiting for. The version of Hangouts that's being tested with KitKat takes over the Messaging app and handles SMS. In fact, the Messaging app is gone and is fully replaced by Hangouts, at least on the Nexus device that was being tested. It should be able to handle MMS as well.

Additionally, Hangouts will now let you send videos instead of just images.

I will try to dig in further, but that's all the information I have on the upcoming Hangouts update. I don't know if it'll be ready in time for KitKat and if it's connected to the KitKat release at all, so I really can't say when it will launch. But I'm hoping if they're testing it now, we'll see it this year.

I think probably what they'll do is have Hangouts be the default texting app on Nexus and Google Play devices and just remove the messaging app for texting but still allow is to exist for OEMs who want their own separate texting apps in addition to hangouts. I mean Google Talk has always been bundled on Android Devices so that solution would make the most sense to me. I just hope that Google Voice integration is some where in the mix.﻿

They'll have to keep a vestigal AOSP messaging app just like they kept a vestigial AOSP browser after the switchover to chrome on Nexus devices. Unless they take Hangouts open source, which would be cool but unlikely. And they have a hard problem to solve conceptually if they choose to thread conversations between SMS and Hangouts messages from the same person. I don't think this is all that desirable, versus a redesign of the AOSP messaging app, but Google has been backing away from adding functionality to the stock apps for a while now.﻿

+Thomas Zolynski I'm pretty sure Samsung is required to bundle Hangouts with the other Google Apps but I could be wrong but I have yet to see a phone without Google Talk (or Hangouts) pre-installed on it.﻿

+Abhishek Saharawat Yeah, I've seen a few stories pop up, most of them calling me the co-founder of +Android Police. I'm not sure they understand the meaning of that word, because I'd love to meet this partner of mine.﻿

+Danny Holyoake Samsung devices usually don't have the Google calendar. And since Samsung also has their own SMS app, they won't hesitate to replace a new SMS/Hangout app with their SMS/WhateverTheirMessengerIsCalled app. ﻿

+Thomas Zolynski Google Calendar doesn't come preinstalled, but you can still download it. Just like you can download FB messenger and replace your messaging app with that. If you get a Samsung device you aren't locked down to using their specific apps. You still have a choice just like any other android device.﻿

I hope it is using Google Voice and that this means Google Voice will finally support MMS. I'm tired of having to remind people send MMS messages to a different number since all of my text messages show my Google Voice number due to Sprint integration.﻿

This is something I WILL hold my breath for and keep my fingers crossed. I'll avoid waking under ladders, breaking mirrors and black cats. I'll sleep in a giant horseshoe and pickup every heads up penny I see.I want this.﻿